by Ranae Rose
Jack laughed. “I know you can. That’s why I’m gonna need you to be real nice to me when we go inside the store.”
Mandy pulled back just a little, meeting his gorgeous eyes and giving him a questioning look.
“Or else people might see this bruise—” he tapped his cheek lightly “—and think that you beat me.”
“Ha ha, Jack. I just might do that if you get into any more fights.”
“It’s no big deal,” Jack said as he slipped out of the cab, shut his door and rounded the truck to open Mandy’s for her. “I’ll be good as new after a few minutes of moonlight tonight.”
“Still,” Mandy said, taking the hand he offered her and letting him help her out of the truck, “I can’t stand seeing you hurt.” Her chest seemed a little too tight for her heart as a not-so-long-ago memory struck her. She could see blood running down the muscular grooves of Jack’s side in perfect clarity, leaking from a bullet hole.
“It’s just a bruise, sweetheart, and this ain’t the first time Daniel and I have fought. I reckon we beat each other half-senseless at least once a week when we were kids.” Her clasped her hand and drew her close to his side as they crossed the parking lot. “He’s always been too bossy for his own good, and he never liked that his bratty little cousin was destined to be alpha of the pack.” He shot Mandy a grin. “But he’s all right. Most of the time.”
The little bell above the electronics store’s door jingled cheerily as she and Jack stepped inside, immediately putting their conversation on hold. Here, in public, they were just another human couple, happy to be together and certainly not pregnant with a little werewolf cub. When the girl behind the counter stepped out from behind the cash register and asked them if they needed help, Mandy told her exactly what she was looking for and temporarily abandoned her mental catalogue of ways to kick Daniel’s ass, should the need arise.
****
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into buying all that,” Mandy said as she slipped from the truck cab, gripping Jack’s hand. “As an accountant, I’m obligated to tell you that you’re a terrible financial influence.” She reached for the handle of a large shopping bag, but it slipped and tumbled from the seat.
Jack caught it just in time. “I couldn’t help it. You looked so pretty in that dress. Besides, the pay for your new job ain’t bad.”
It wasn’t nearly what she’d been making in Nashville, but Mandy’s pretend-sternness wavered anyway. “Well, I guess it is almost a miracle to find a maternity dress that doesn’t make me look like a tent.” Maybe she’d been too uptight. Living in the Smoky Mountains wasn’t as expensive as living in Nashville, and Jack’s income closed the gap between what she’d be making from her part time job and what she’d made in the city.
Jack shut the truck door and pressed her against it, leaning with his hands on either side of her shoulders, his flat belly just barely bumping her round one. “You’ve never looked like a tent. I would know – I spend most of my time staring at you.”
She giggled as he leaned in and nipped at her neck, his stubble rasping against her jaw. “Well, don’t look now, but speaking of staring, we have an audience.”
Jack turned his head to look at the cabin, where three familiar figures stood together on the front porch – Noah, April and Violet. “I woulda set them up in another cabin before we left, but I wanted to give Daniel some time to cool down.”
“Looks like he might be inside fuming.” There was no sign of either Daniel or Clarissa on the front porch.
“Or right behind you.”
Mandy whirled in Jack’s arms, turning to where Daniel and Clarissa stood by the tail end of the truck. Clarissa’s scar stood out bright and pink, even in the fading daylight, and Daniel’s lip was as swollen as ever.
“We just took a walk,” Clarissa said. “Through the woods and to a stream with a little waterfall. It was beautiful.”
“I know just where you’re talking about,” Mandy said. It was one of her favorite places.
Daniel just stood, looking tall and impassive next to his much smaller and more cheerful mate.
“If you start your car, I’ll take my truck and lead you all up the mountain to your cabin.”
“I’ll go get the others,” Daniel said, and strode directly for the front door without another word. Clarissa trailed in his wake, voicing suspicions that her luggage had been crushed beneath the weight of all the others’.
“You wanna come along for the ride?” Jack asked, turning back to Mandy.
“I’d rather stay here and set up my new computer, if it’s all the same to you. I’m getting tired.”
Still leaning over her, keeping her snugly trapped against the side of the truck, he lowered his voice just a little. “Not too tired, I hope.” The sound of his speech was like honey being poured over gravel, and it sent a shiver of delight down Mandy’s spine. “I have plans for us tonight.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, getting as close as her baby bump would allow. “Not too tired,” she whispered, fighting a giggle when he twitched, knowing her lips were tickling his ear.
****
“It’s done,” Jack said, striding in through the screen door and pulling it shut behind himself. “Those five will be driving each other crazy for the night in one of the vacation cabins.”
Mandy looked up from where she sat curled on the couch, a half-finished book in her hands. “I’m glad it’s just you and me for the night.”
“Yeah, me too.” He sank onto the couch beside her, and the aged cushion conformed to his body like a glove. “I told them you and I would show them the Half Moon territory tomorrow. They’ll meet us here at the cabin at dawn. It’ll be our first run together as a pack.”
Hearing the note of satisfaction in Jack’s voice, Mandy decided not to cringe at the word dawn. The mountains were gorgeous at that early hour anyway, and it had been too long since she’d traveled the entire territory, running up and down the sloping sides of the mountains with their namesake fog kissing the tips of her ears and the pine needles being crushed beneath her feet. “Looking forward to it.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “Readin’ anything good?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded, placing her bookmark between the pages of her novel and setting it aside.
“What’s the book about?”
“Ask me again later. I can’t think just now.” His scent – that delicious smell that had originally driven her crazy with attraction and had let her know that he was her mate – was flooding her senses, making her head spin as she leaned into him.
“All right.” He put his other arm around her and pressed his mouth full on hers, driving the last vestiges of the story from her mind.
He slipped his tongue between her lips, and she did the same to him. His mouth was warm, the taste familiar and completely his own. Something inside her seemed to melt when a low hint of a moan escaped his throat, and suddenly, even her round bump of a belly didn’t seem like a barrier between them. Their bodies entwined, they sank deep into the couch cushions.
Jack’s hands, calloused from manual labor, were pleasantly rough against her skin as he slid them beneath her skirt, hiking the material up over the slope of her belly as he grasped a breast, his fingertips denting one cup of her bra. He caressed her cleavage, dipping a thumb below the edge of a cup and touching her nipple, causing it to spring up small and instantly hard. Mandy shifted against him, her pussy tightening when the hardness of his erection nudged against her thigh. She wouldn’t get much sleep tonight, but who cared?
“You wanna head to the bedroom?” Jack asked, breaking the seal of their kiss and meeting her eyes.
Before she’d become pregnant, he wouldn’t have stopped to ask – he would’ve stripped her down and made love to her right then and there. But with her belly between them, there was less room on the couch, and she knew he worried about her being uncomfortable, or even slipping off the edge. “Sure. But let’s hu
rry.”
Somewhere between the couch and the bedroom, Jack’s shirt came off. As he pulled her gently onto the bed, his ridiculously trim torso rippled, striped with dark hair that made her mouth water just to look at. “I’ve been thinkin’ about this all day.”
“So what else is new?” she teased as she reached for the fly of his jeans. “Have you even taken the time to think about anything else, like food?”
“I ate lunch while you were at your interview,” he said dismissively as she pulled down his zipper and slipped a hand beneath the denim.
“That was ages ago.” She’d eaten while he’d taken his cousins to their cabin, and the cousins had all been told to take whatever they pleased from the fridge and cupboards while Jack and Mandy had been out shopping.
“Not hungry,” he said, flexing his hips as Mandy pressed her hand against his bare groin – he never wore underwear, claiming they were more trouble than they were worth to a shape-shifter – and let her fingers brush the stiff length of his shaft. His movement sent his cock pressing against her hand, hard and pulse-quickeningly hot.
She wrapped her fingers around it, gripping him tightly, just like she knew he liked. “It’s not healthy to go all day without eating, Jack. It’s okay to think of yourself every once in a while.”
“Damn,” he breathed as she slid her hand down his erection, stopping at the base and cupping his balls with her other hand. They were hot and heavy in her palm. “I’ll eat after this. Promise.” He had his eyes squeezed shut, as if absorbed in silent prayer that she wouldn’t stop.
She would’ve giggled if he hadn’t looked so sexy. Instead, she stroked him, running a thumb over the rounded head of his cock.
He opened his eyes and reached out without warning, beginning to unbutton her shirt. “I liked the way you were wearing this earlier today, after you got home from your interview.”
Mandy blushed at the memory of how she’d traipsed out of the house with her shirt halfway unbuttoned, her pregnancy-enhanced cleavage exposed. “I bet you did, but I’m not so sure it’s the best look for first impressions.”
Jack shrugged. “It was nice while it lasted.”
She let him help her out of the sleeves, and her shirt was tossed to the floor, soon followed by his jeans. Naked, he was impossible not to stare at. She let her gaze wander all over his body, taking in every familiar line of lean muscle, every dark trail of hair. She reached for him again, pressing a hand against his inner thigh and leaning toward him. “Help me out of these pants?”
“With pleasure.”
The khakis were a pair she’d had for at least a year, but were low-waisted enough that she could still get away with wearing them. She preferred the low rise to the spandex embrace of pregnancy pants, and it certainly felt good when Jack’s fingers fumbled at the fly, undoing the button and slipping below to rub against the thin cotton of her panties. After a little teasing, he slid the pants down over her hips and legs, tossing them aside.
He slipped his hand between her legs again, quicker than lighting. Through the fabric, he dragged his thumb over her clit, beginning a massage that was just past gentle.
She sighed and focused all her senses on Jack’s touch as a tense pleasure began to envelop her, quickly inciting heat and dampness as he worked his magic. Propping herself up with her elbows against the mattress, she pressed a kiss against his shoulder. His skin tasted faintly salty with sweat from when he’d spent time splitting wood in the sunshine, but she didn’t mind. To her delight, he bent, seeking out her mouth with his as he continued to tease her, slipping his fingers beneath her panties.
“Uh, Jack…” She tensed against the mattress as he teased her entrance, his fingertips sliding against the slickness of her skin.
“Yeah, sweetheart?” They were so close, still practically kissing, that his lips brushed hers when he spoke.
“Something really weird is happening.” A tightening feeling had begun in the small of her back and wrapped around her torso, making her belly feel tense and crampy.
He withdrew his hand from between her legs, letting the cotton of her panties snap back lightly against her skin. “What is it?” He rested his hand on her thigh, and his touch quelled her rising alarm just a little.
“I – I don’t know. It’s my belly. It feels all tight and it kind of hurts.”
Jack’s golden eyes flashed. “Do you think you could be having a contraction?”
She clutched a fistful of the quilt. “I hope not.” She was only six and a half months along. Nothing like this was supposed to happen for another couple of months. She tried to keep a handle on her emotions, but panic welled up inside her as horrible possibilities whirled through her mind – premature labor, one of her biggest fears and something she’d tried not to think about. Sometimes, carrying her and Jack’s baby around in her belly felt somehow completely natural and totally terrifying all at once. “What if something’s wrong with the baby?”
Jack pressed a warm hand against the round swell of her belly. “Is it kicking?”
“Not right now. At least, if it is, I can’t tell. Everything just feels so uncomfortable.”
“Just lie back and keep still. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get Clarissa. Daniel told me she was apprenticed to a shifter midwife back in Alaska.”
“I know,” Mandy said, unsure of whether she should feel relieved that Clarissa was nearby or scared by the concern that was painted all over Jack’s face.
Jack pressed a quick kiss against her temple. “Right back.” In an instant, he stood on four legs, a huge, dark brown wolf with streaks of true black and creamy white in his coat, and golden eyes that were almost impossible to look away from. With a clatter of long toenails against the floorboards and a swish of his tail, he was gone, the screen door banging shut behind him.
Mandy reclined carefully against the mattress, hardly daring to move. Her belly still felt tight, though it seemed like the feeling might be easing a little. She rested her hands lightly on her sides, waiting for any sign of movement. There was none.
Staring up at the ceiling, she bit her lip. This couldn’t be happening. Couldn’t be. What on Earth would she do if she did go into premature labor? Her baby would need special care if it was to have any chance of surviving being born so early, and if she went to the hospital while she was still in labor, they wouldn’t know what to make of her wolf’s body temperature, and might try to treat her for problems she didn’t have, possibly affecting the baby. It wasn’t like she could say, “oh, yeah, that’s normal – I’m a werewolf”. The minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly as she tried not to dwell on the scariest possibilities.
The noise of the screen door banging open and toenails against the floorboards was the most welcome sound in the world. In no time at all the bedroom door swung open, nosed inward by a dark wolf. Midnight black, sleek and positively petite compared to Jack, Clarissa was beautiful in her lupine form. Jack’s golden eyes flashed from the doorway as he poked his head inside, his ears pricked anxiously forward. Mandy nodded at him to let him know that she was all right, and he disappeared.
Even though she was in her lupine form, Clarissa’s bright brown eyes looked concerned. She hurried into the room, carrying a fabric bundle in her mouth. When she dropped it, it unfurled on the floor into a puddle of cotton – the tank top and shorts Mandy had let her borrow.
Clarissa shifted back into her human form and dressed quickly. “Tell me what’s happening,” she said, hurrying to the side of Mandy’s bed.
Mandy described the unnerving feeling that had assailed her a short while ago.
“Have you experienced any bleeding?”
“No.”
“Anything else unusual?”
Mandy shook her head.
“How do you feel now?”
“Pretty normal.” Her heart was beating a little more quickly than usual, and she still felt on edge, but those were only symptoms of worry
.
Clarissa took Mandy’s wrist and pressed a thumb against it, checking her pulse.
“I’m pretty nervous,” Mandy said in explanation.
“Okay. Well, good news – you were probably having a Braxton Hicks Contraction. It’s perfectly normal and is something that most pregnant women experience.”
“Oh.” Mandy breathed a sigh of relief. “I’d never felt one before. I didn’t expect it to be so … intense.”
“It’s a little different for every woman. Some of the contractions are barely noticeable, and others are intense enough that they might be mistaken for actual labor. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to tell the difference – if you were in true labor, the contractions would continue at regular intervals. You only experienced one, right?”
Mandy nodded.
Clarissa smiled. “I’m sure you and the baby are going to be fine. But just in case, I’ll stay here at the cabin. Tell me if it happens again, all right?”
“Right.” Mandy sighed again, pressing a hand against her belly. “I’m so glad you’re here, Clarissa. I don’t know what I would’ve done if it hadn’t been for you. The midwife I’ve been seeing has to drive all the way from Kentucky just for my regular check-ups.” The idea of having to call the distant midwife she’d been seeing and then waiting hours for her to arrive – if she could even come at all – was enough to inspire a wave of nausea.
“Glad I could help,” Clarissa said, sounding as if she actually meant it – as if she really didn’t mind traveling all the way from Alaska to Tennessee and then having to rush unexpectedly down an unfamiliar mountainside in the middle of the night.
Just as Mandy was pushing herself up into a sitting position on the mattress, the door swung inward, and Jack stepped into the room, naked except for a bath towel that he’d slung around his hips. “Is everything all right?” His eyes gleamed with concern.
